Time to turn the page and move on to the next Challenge. Wake Forrest QB had a monster game vs Louisville, so he's legit. But his top receiver had an injury and is lost for the year. So I'm never happy to see an opponent suffer injuries, it does help the Irish defense at least on paper. Irish are favored by 14 points and the WF defense vs the run is not anywhere near what NCState was so it's reasonable to expect that we will be able to run the ball on them and if we can then it's highly likely that we win. Irish should be healthy for the WF game, the two RB's Dexter Williams and Tony Jones Jr both are supposed to be a full go, but I've heard that before. Not worried too much as long as Adams is healthy and Deon MacIntosh keeps playing like he's playing. I mentioned this before about Adams, now that he's in the Heisman conversation, will we start running him 30 times a game to help him get the numbers that the voters always insist that you get. While I'd like to see him continue to do well, with RB's the more they run the more they are likely to get injured. So I would like to see the other RB's get more carries if they are effective. I guess the best case would be for the Irish to get out ahead of WF in the 1st half and then turn over the RB duties to the other guys. I expect the Irish will be in the top 6 tonight when they release the playoff rankings. Certainly there is no doubt that Alabama and Georgia will be 1, 2 and the next 2 will cause lots of debate. ND, Ohio State, Clemson, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Penn State will all be expecting to be in the top 4. The Irish have made their case with impressive victories over ranked opponents and a "good" loss by 1point to UGA. But the others also have their resume, except IMHO Wisconsin which has not played a ranked opponent yet. Clemson has that really bad loss to Syracuse. Bottom line is that likely nobody will like the other 2 in the top 4 for various reasons. I'm going to guess they will put Ohio State and ND in the top 4. Penn State and Wisconsin next and Clemson and OU after that.
This will get Tim Gentry fired up!! 3 out of the 4 LB's for 2018 are on the semi-finalist list for the High School Butkus award. The 4th guy Jack Lamb was injured early in the year and that might have kept him off this list. Not to mention we are still going hard after that kid from Mater Dei..according to Mike Frank he's the real deal.
Irish #3 in the first poll. I'm really surprised that Georgia is #1 and not Alabama. Lots of big games, no 1 loss teams can afford to lose.
Notre Dame <r>Terry,<br/> <br/> I'm already fired up! This is like gasoline on the fire!!! <E></E></r>
Well aware , kp. Well aware. I can speak only for myself. I worry about early high rankings (early = any time before the last day of the season). After the debacle of last year, it's nice to be where we are, but is it too much too soon? Are we due for a fall? There's precedent at ND for this turnaround. In 1972, we finished the season getting stomped by USC and losing to Nebraska in the bowl game 40-6 (I still remember the score like it was yesterday). We lost 3 games, which was the most under Ara. The following season we went undefeated and beat Alabama 24-23 in the bowl game for the national championship. The current two-year comparison is different but not by much. I know that we've earned our current rank. Whatever happens in November, we've proven to this point that we can compete at the highest level. The season is a success, wherever we end up in the rankings. Call me crazy but I can't help but believe that Ara has a hand in this turnaround. I'm not predicting that we'll win it all. Heck, I'm not sure we'll beat Wake Forest or any of the other 3 remaining teams on our schedule, including Miami. I just know that we are a resurgent program that is running on all cylinders and has a legitimate chance to be in the mix at the end.
Notre Dame <t>More WF injuries:<br/> <br/> RB Cade Carney and DB Jessie Bates III will not play Saturday.</t>
The committee has shown in the past that they are willing to make radical changes in their rankings on a week to week basis. While the AP and Coaches for the most part make min changes. If you lose a close game that you were favored to win, you'll drop but not a ton. If you win a close game that you were supposed to win handily you probably don't drop. The committee dropped the Irish in 2015 out of the top 4 when we won vs BC and the game was too close. So the lesson is if you are the favorite by a couple of TD's like we are vs WF then you better damn well beat them by a couple of TD's or more. To them a win isn't a win...they take into account MOV.
Notre Dame <r><QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE> <br/> I agree with you 100% but at this point I want a win any way we can get it. If it's by two touchdowns or 2 pts it's a win, especially after last season.</r>
Well I hear you, a win is a win, but as I said 2015 we "just win" vs Boston College and drop out of the playoff top 4. So sure just win, but if the goal is the playoffs the Irish need to do more than just win. I think Alabama can "just" win and still make the playoffs, I don't think we can. But if we do win out and because of close games vs Wake and/or Navy drop out of the playoffs we'll have a top New Years day bowl and if that is the consolation it's not bad and if we do get to one of those New Years 6 bowls..dang it we need to "just win" it's been awhile since we've won a major bowl game...not since the 1994 Cotton Bowl vs Texas A&M have we won a major bowl game.